Buy This Stock Now on Crude Spike, Say Pros

Meanwhile, shareholders in Chevron have had a good year. The company's stocks are up 9% in 2013 and over 16% over the last twelve months.

In a recent report, Iain Reid, analyst at Jefferies in London writes that Chevron "looks attractive as a standalone integrated oil investment, retaining its key upstream profitability strength, a metric where it has led the US/European peers over the last two years." He also writes that Chevron has "excellent project portfolio which should provide good production".

So, why did Jefferies just downgrade Chevron from a "buy" to a "hold" in that very same report?

According to Reid, it's because the company's shares can't grow as fast as others in the business.